


finally found the very reason

by cinderlily



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gay Bar, M/M, TFLN - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 13:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12300243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: TFLN: (519): Its one thing to reject me, but to reject me AND my hottest friend AT THE SAME TIME!?!?AKA, the one where Jake accidentally comes out to Lawson and Lawson is a very good 'bro' indeed.





	finally found the very reason

It wasn’t like Jake was ‘in the closet’. He had mostly told the people who mattered most to him, his family, friends back home, Max and by default Duke, it was just… he hadn’t gone out of his way to say it to many of the other people. To say he was a little afraid of Lawson’s reaction would be an understatement. 

Not because when they first met Jake had had to grip his mouth to keep from gaping, or because he’d spent the better part of two years nursing a crush from hell because he could take rejection. It was more that he was afraid of the look that might pass over Lawson’s face. The one he’d gotten before when he told his best guy friend from the time he was six. The switch from, ‘Bros for life’ to ‘Wait, what does it meant to hug him?’ 

He was still friends with Carter, but their friendship had changed and that was the last thing he wanted to do with Lawson. 

Except, Lawson kind of found him out. Cause who knocks on the road? And he was dumb enough to give his key over. To say that the guy whose name he wasn’t sure he ever got had run out the door with his shoes in his hands wouldn’t be an understatement. Jake was proud to say that he had thought to get his shoes. 

“WHAT. THE. FUCK?” Lawson bellowed. He was holding snacks and his Roku and oh fuck, he had told him at one point they’d keep going with watching Westworld. But it was like ten thirty at night. And he’d left the bar early for a reason. 

“Shut the door,” Jake said, buttoning his shirt. They hadn’t gotten far, just a little making out. He was half hard in his boxers but thankfully he wasn’t pantsless so it was easier to hide. “There are other people on the floor.” 

Lawson did but looked annoyed about it. “No, they’re at the _bar_ , man. I came back early because I thought you might be sick, fucker. Not making out with some random.” 

Jake flinched. “Okay, so… about that…” 

“About _what_?” 

He blinked reflexively. Not sure how he was supposed to answer that. Like, Lawson had seen that was a guy, right? It wasn’t like he’d been making out with a small guy. A tall blonde dude had just made a hasty retreat by Lawson. 

“The **guy**?” 

That stopped Lawson for a second. Maybe he hadn’t seen him, or he had been so worked up that his brain got scrambled. He turned around the door like the dude was going to be still standing there. If Jake wasn’t mistaken he was probably halfway back to his dorm by now. 

“Wait, you like guys too?”

Jake could have laughed but it was a little bit like a frog had sat in his throat. “Uh, yeah. I like guys… mostly.” 

“You jackass,” Lawson said, his mouth pressed in a thin line across his face. Jake’s heart jerked in his chest. “Two years and you don’t tell me you’re gay?” 

Which… well. He had every single right on earth to be pissed about come to think about it. Max and he were brothers, he’d lived with him for so long they’d even started the brother fighting, but Lawson was his… _bro_. His best friend. His trouble making partner. He’d kind of fucked that one up. 

“I didn’t want you to look at me differently,” he blurted out and he realized he was on the bed, still clothed but on his bed, so he stood up and fidgeted. “I was … I’ve had bad experiences?” 

“Okay, that explains months one to like four, after that?” Lawson did that thing where he crossed his arms to make him look bigger. 

Jake made a face. “Then we were bros and I didn’t want you to like… get creeped out by it.” 

“CREEPED OUT?” 

“Dude, we’re in a _hotel_ ,” Jake chastised. “Quiet, man.” 

Lawson grunted, low and frustrated and Jake braced for another impact. But instead Lawson turned on his heel and walked swiftly out of the room, making Jake wish to be yelled at, but instead, it just felt like he’d been punched in the solar plexus. 

_Fuck_. 

* 

The next day they had a flight to St. Louis, but they had the night off. It was kind of a relief only in that it meant that he didn’t have to see Lawson as much. Or he didn’t have to be avoided by Lawson as much. Cause that was the truth of it, Lawson had sat at the edge of the table at morning breakfast. Had actually gone and sat with Goose when they got on the plane instead of next to him like always. 

Max had noticed, went to sit next to him but Jake just shook his head and put his Beats on. He wasn’t even really feeling the old school mix his sister made him but he was feeling the My Chemical Romance. 

He kept the headphones on all the way through till the hotel, grabbing his room key and back up to his hotel room. There was an optional team dinner being planned, something about one of the guys knowing someone on the Blues who recommended a great place nearby but he wasn’t close to in the mood. He tried FaceTiming his sister but she didn’t answer and he sent her a series of melancholy and annoying texts because it made him feel better and worse at the same time. 

He laid back on his bed and turned on Baywatch, a movie he’d bought entirely for the humor and only like 1% for Zac Efron’s insane hotness. Okay, probably closer to 10% but he stood by the fact that it was freaking hilarious. Even if just for the Rock’s nicknames for Zac and the random tech dude stealing the show. 

Halfway through there was a thudding knock at the door. He frowned, they’d left for dinner like an hour before. He’d heard them in the hall. He walked to the doorway and peered through the little hole to see… Lawson? He opened the door. 

“Laws?” he said, and his voice was entirely higher pitched than he was proud of. 

Lawson straightened himself up, giving Jake a chance to fully look him over. He was dressed up. Not like Game Day formal or anything, but his shirt was fitted and black with pale silver stripes and he was wearing dark blue jeans. He swore he could smell new cologne. 

“What… what are you doing?” 

Lawson forced the door open. “Get dressed, we’re going out.” 

“The guys left like an hour ago, dude.” 

“Did I say we were going out with the guys?” Lawson asked, pointedly. “Get on some clothes, we’re going to a bar.” 

Jake stared at him for a long moment before he could parcel out just whatever he meant. Cause he looked _good_ and he looked like he was going for a _date_ and he was asking _him_? He had no idea what the hell was going on but he definitely didn’t think he was dumb enough to see a freaking date with Lawson on the radar. 

“I wanted to just hang out, I’m kind of tired,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder to his computer. 

“Watching Baywatch and jacking it to Efron?” 

He spluttered. What the fuck? How did they go from freak out, to not talking for twenty-four hours directly into joking? “Not as of yet?”

Lawson’s eyes creased. “Well, Baywatch is forever. Get your good gear on, we’re going out Chychyboom.” 

Generally, he hated that nickname, it was only reserved for Lawson to use, but it made him feel like a kid when they read they read “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” and some of the kids thought it hilarious to chant parts to him. Lawson, however, usually made stupid hand motions with it that somehow endeared him to it. Also, he liked to sing “I Fought the Law” at him and Lawson admitted that was an only him thing… fuck. He needed to stop that feeling. 

“Okay. Hold on,” he said, mostly because it meant he got to grab some clothes out of his bag and head to the bathroom. The bathroom afforded him just enough privacy to not be embarrassed by the blush he was sporting. 

He put his own pair of dark jeans, the ones that his sister had said were too tight and showed off his assets too much for her comfort so he’d bought two pairs, and a fitted tan sweater with loops for his thumbs. His hair was… well. Frankly a mess. But there was no time for him to do much more than rub it down and then try and get it back to all going in the same direction. 

He dabbed on some Burberry, cause he always felt like he smelled like the plane after travel. No matter how many showers. 

When he walked out Lawson was on his bed, not that strange really, and he was laughing at the screen. He looked up at Jake and paused before looking back down. “You were _actually_ watching Baywatch.” 

“What? The Rock is hilarious.” 

“And Zac Efron is built like man candy.” 

He narrowed his eyes at him. “I actually am not that huge a fan of the stupid muscles, I mean. He just looks like he took roids. But the smile is nice.” 

Lawson rolled his eyes. “Different strokes I guess.” 

He overlooked the obvious joke and just stood there. “Are you ready or like do you need some alone time with my computer? I know your feelings for Alex Daddario.” 

“Eh, maybe later. I have your iTunes password,” Lawson stood up. 

“You have my what?” he asked but Lawson was passing him and handing him his cell and key. 

Lawson was in the hallway and looking back towards him with a frown. “Come on, Chych. We’ve got places to be.” 

“How do you know my password, Laws?” 

“IFoughttheLaw667, you told me your Netflix password when you were drunk over the summer. You know you’re supposed to like, switch those around. Not ALL the same, right?” 

He looked at the floor and walked ahead, closing the door. “Well, I will now.” 

“Fuck, not without telling me, I’m halfway through the Lord of the Rings.” 

“I hate you,” he sighed but as they waited for the elevator he turned. “I’ll tell you when I change it.” 

Lawson beamed at him. “I knew you would.” 

* 

It wasn’t until they were about a block away from the bar that the sudden horrifying realization of where they were going hit him like a Mac Truck. He shouldn’t be totally surprised, as it was Lawson and if nothing else, once you became one of Lawson’s people you were pretty much sucked into his orbit of care. Yet, he hadn’t quite expected this level of support. 

It started with a store, Pride Flags all along the top, followed by a group of girls who were walking into a bar labeled “SCRATCH” and the top of it was that the road they were on had a freaking Pride sticker on it. 

“Are we in like… the Castro of St. Louis?” he asked, just barely audible. 

“I wouldn’t call it the Castro, Chych,” Lawson said. “Have you BEEN to the Castro? That place is ACE. Or… I should go with clutch. Ace is probably included… whatever. Come on, we’re here.” 

The cab had indeed stopped in front of a small bar called ‘ _Bastille_.’ Chych sat frozen in his seat, more or less wanting to curl into the terrible smelling pleather. He looked at Lawson and then at the cabbie, both of whom were looking at him like he was crazy or rude or possibly both but he didn’t care. They were in front of a GAY BAR. A GAY BAR. 

“Laws,” he said, and maybe it was a whine. But _Gay Bar_. 

“Get out of the car, or else I’m picking you up,” he said. 

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. “I weigh like ten pounds less than you, fucker. And I’m only an inch shorter.” 

Lawson leaned over the seat and went in to grab him. He put his hands out and kicked at him with his nice black shoes. 

“Fuck you, I’ll come out.” 

Lawson smirked but was smart enough not to say anything. 

*

The bar was surprisingly busy for midweek in St. Louis during the winter but it wasn’t bad once they made it to the actual bar to order drinks. Well, sodas. Because not only was he being dragged out in the middle of the night to a bar, he couldn’t even be granted the gift of liquid courage. Instead, he was forced to drink Dr. Pepper and look around like a clearly scared dear. 

“Calm down,” Lawson said, knocking at his knee with his own. They’d found a raised table near the back and Lawson was going through the merits of random people while he just tried his best not to bolt. “You’ve apparently been my wingman for a year and a half, I need to repay the favor.” 

“I’ve not been your wingman,” he said. “I just figured we were hanging out.” 

As soon as he let that slip out he felt kind of like he might turn into a ball of fire if his face heated up anymore. Lawson was looking at him strangely and Jake tried shrugging it off, even going so far as to chirp him. 

“Or… you just can’t get play…” 

Lawson arched an eyebrow, but put a hand out to cover Jake’s tapping fingers. “I liked just hanging out, dude. I just meant we’ve been going to straight bars for a year and that’s not been fair to you.” 

“I’ve had fun,” Jake said, truthfully. There was something to be said for being the gay and sober one at a straight bar with a bunch of dumb drunk straight guys fawning on girls. He and Laws played games like who was going to strike out and who was going to make it and he was proud to say he was the reigning champ on that. 

“Well, let’s go for different fun,” Lawson winked. “Your drink is low, I’ll be right back.” 

Before he could point out he’d barely had half the drink and Lawson had forgotten his own _empty_ cup, Lawson was at the bar again and leaning against it. Next, to him a guy sidled up and Jake’s breath caught. Fuck, he was about to get hit on. Lawson was totally about to get hit on. By some douche in a tight grey shirt with an ironic statement on it. Okay, he couldn’t read the shirt, he just assumed.

Lawson smiled, making small talk and being his usual oblivious self. Jake had seen him try and pick up girls before, the guy had about as much self-awareness with guys as he did with girls. The guy did the classic lean in thing, like the bar was too loud when it was totally _not_ and Lawson laughed. 

It figured that the guy would get play out of this situation. Though he wouldn’t, cause he didn’t want to. But like, the point still stood. Lawson said something though and the guy backed off a little, tilting his head and looking back … at Jake. He was looking at him. Okay, the guy was hot. But like not too hot. Not exactly his type. Hair dark brown, glasses that were turtle shell. It was a little like he COULD be a dark-haired Ollie but like … douchey? Was that a word? It should be. 

Even still, he gave an awkward wave that made him feel like he was twelve years old. The guy waved back and turned around to Lawson to say something. Lawson got a look on his face but shrugged it off. The soda had already gotten to him and apparently, the guy wasn’t up to his taste level. 

When he got back to the table he handed over the soda and made a face. “That guy turned me down.” 

“I’m sorry?” Jake said, confused if that was something he should _actually_ be sorry for. 

“I’m not, I mean, I’m good for the night,” Lawson said. “Just what a fucker. He was all up in my grill, asked if I was here alone tonight and I was like, ‘Nah, I’m with my bro’ and I pointed at you and he like totally blew me off. Paid for your soda though. Put it on his tab. Funny if he knew our salaries.” 

Jake bit his tongue on trying to tell Lawson _again_ about the merits of lowering spending because like, they might only have a few years in the show. It was a fight they had quite often, cause Jake had been given the speech by his dad so many times he lost count and Lawson wasn’t crazy with his spending but Jake worried. 

“Well, cheers to a free drink?” Jake said instead, trying his best to just get Lawson to look back at him and smile. He was rewarded with both a smile and a look, clinking their glasses, even though Lawson’s was still empty. 

They sat for a while longer, going back and forth talking about things that weren’t all based on the guys that were around him. Though Lawson did slip in a few times questions about whether one guy or another was more his type. He tried to avoid these questions because there was only so much of this game before Laws got the pattern. 

Tall or short? Tall. Broad or slim? Broad. Blond or Brunet? Blond. Gee. Who was he describing? 

He tried to talk about the game the next night, which sufficiently distracted him for just long enough that Lawson didn’t go too deep into the rabbit hole of his psyche. It was nice to just get some talking in. Yeah, it had been less than 24 hours of radio silence, but that was probably the longest they’d gone since the summer without talking. 

“Wait, what about that guy?” Lawson interjected, pointing to a guy at the bar who was … well. Almost perfectly his type. His hair was a little too long, and maybe he was a little shorter than he went for, but in general, he was blonde and handsome and had a smile that was. 

_Fuck_.

He scrambled for something desperately. “What about refills? My treat.” 

He didn’t bother grabbing the two empty cups and instead just stumbled off of the chair and towards the bar. The bartender was busy, so he took a moment to breathe. He was at least five guys down from the hot dude, which was all the same to him. He was not there to pick up. Not with Lawson so close. It felt like cheating, which was a level of pathetic he wasn’t prepared for. 

When he turned to get onto a barstool, sure he was waiting for a while, he noticed the guy next to him was the guy from earlier. The dark-haired douchey OEL. Except, not entirely as when he was closer he noticed he had a much more oval face than Ollie and his nose was just not the right way. Either way, the douchey still stood. 

The guy was looking at him and Jake was nothing if not polite so he smiled. “Thanks for the drink earlier.” 

All he got was a blank stare and a blink. He jerked his thumb over towards the table with Lawson, who was surreptitiously looking at them over his cell phone. He was such a freaking nerd. What the hell. 

“Ooooh,” the guy said. “You’re welcome, I guess.” 

_He guessed_. Wow. The man was kind of his worst nightmare. He was rude and had pushed up his glasses while being so. 

“Cool,” Jake said and the bartender finally reached him so he had a reason to look away. “Hey, two Dr. Peppers.” 

“You can put that on my tab,” the guy said. Who did that? 

Jake waved that off and threw a twenty on the table. “I got it, thanks.” 

“Look, it’s no big, I got it,” the guy said and handed him the money back. 

“At least let me know your name,” Jake said, because he wanted to say thank you and saying ‘Thank you, dude’ felt a little dick. 

The guy made a face. “Nah, I’m good. Enjoy the night.” 

“Alright, that’s it,” Lawson said, coming apparently from nowhere. “You don’t want me, cool. Whatever, I get it. I’m an acquired taste. But this is the hottest you can get in the room. I looked around. He’s like an obvious 11 in a sea of 7s. What the hell makes you think you can do better than him?” 

“Okay, look,” the guy smiled, obviously trying to defuse the situation. “I think it’s really cool that you guys are so flexible and all, but I’ve been in the middle of the couple trying to mix things up and it sucks. Sucks for the couple, sucks for the random, and generally just sucks. You guys are obviously young, you shouldn’t need an extra just to spice things up.” 

From behind him, he heard Lawson make a noise akin to a dog whine. It reminded him of when he tried to fake Orion out with the ball, to be honest, and any other time that would be freaking hilarious but really. Hwuh? He leaned his head. 

“We’re not…” Jake started but then stopped when the guy gave him a skeptical look. 

“Look, guys, just go home, get some porn and you’ll find it’s the easiest way to make things interesting. Or like… dress up.” 

Okay, the guy was giving them sex tips? He was so far out of his realm. Jake turned to a stunned-looking Lawson and grabbed him by the arm. “Awesome, thank you random dude, we’re out.” 

He looked at his phone and realized they were most definitely out past curfew and he wasn’t sure how long an Uber would take but was blessed to find a few taxis lingering outside between a few of the bars. Lawson was basically moving by him moving and that was scary as shit enough. Lawson would fight him even if he was dragging him out of a burning building. That was just Lawson, the lack of resistance was probably not a good sign. 

After putting Lawson in first, he crawled in after him and told the guy which hotel they were heading. Then he sat staring across the back seat at Lawson, who was looking forward, and it was too dark to tell for real but he was pretty sure he was blushing. He wondered how he was supposed to broach the topic, exactly, but knew he had to. 

“Laws, just because some rando at a bar _thought_ we were dating doesn’t mean you’re like…” he started, figuring out halfway through the sentence that he’d lost his train of thought and moreover he was probably not going in the right direction. “You and I are friends. What does this guy know about friendship?” 

Lawson looked over at him, **finally** and blinked. “What the hell just happened?” 

Jake flinched. “The guy thought we were … boyfriends.”

“Yeah, okay, I can see that,” Lawson said, his voice blank. “I just… I’ve not been that pissed off in a while. Not even on _skates_.” 

Jake was the one to blink this time. “Wait— what?” 

The cabbie looked at them from his rearview mirror. Jake looked at Lawson and then looked back at the guy. Maybe, _probably_ it was not the best idea to talk about this with a driver in the front seat. Especially now that he noticed a small blue musical note with wings on the guy's dashboard. 

“Uh, we are going to be past curfew,” Lawson said, obviously breaking the conversation up. He sounded weird, not like himself and it made Jake feel guilty. One night as his wingman and he was totally fucking up his friend’s mind. 

He swallowed. “I’ll tell the guys I went for a walk and got lost, you came to find me.” 

“We did that in New York,” Lawson said, and damn. They had. 

“We could try that we were hungry and …” 

Lawson sighed. “Jersey.” 

“Are we EVER on time for curfew?” 

Lawson laughed and it made Jake relax in increments. “When we don’t get caught?” 

When the driver dropped them off, they were in luck. A few of the guys were lingering around in the lobby. Apparently, they’d enjoyed dinner and were more or less ready to hang out in the bar downstairs. Lawson and Jake slipped by with little notice. He was ninety percent sure that Jordy noticed, as he looked at Jake as they hit the elevator button. But whatever. 

He knew Lawson was on the same floor as him but wasn’t sure which direction his room was. It didn’t seem to matter though, as they walked towards his room and stopped directly in front of the door. Jake was going to ask him to come in to talk but that was unnecessary as Lawson followed him in. 

“So, uh,” Jake started, rather eloquently. “What do you mean you were… like angry?” 

Lawson definitely blushed this time, rubbing at his neck and looking down. “You uh… went up to the bar. And dude started talking to you. Which was like, cool, right? I was cool with that. I was totally cool with that. Then like… he bought you the drink again and I was a little annoyed. Cause earlier he was a dick, right? 

“So I went to check up on you and he was being a dick again, but like, you were buying HIM a drink and he was _looking at you_ , you know?” 

Jake did not in fact, know. But he tilted his head. “You were mad he was a jerk to me and looked at me?” 

“He _looked at you_ like he _liked you_ ,” Lawson said, moving his hand around in a way to suggest… fuck it. Jake had no idea. 

“He didn’t seem to like me,” Jake said. “He was a total jackass and I put money down to buy _our_ drinks. Because I wasn’t letting him think we were some teens who needed everything paid for us.” 

Lawson shrugged. “Well one of us is a teen.” 

“Fuck you,” Jake groaned. “You’re _barely_ older than me.” 

“I was _jealous_ , dude.” 

Were it a movie Jake would do a double take, or a spit take even though he had no water nearby. Instead, his jaw dropped open and he had to sit at the edge of his bed because um. What the ever-loving FUCK was Lawson talking about?

“Jealous?” 

“Yeah,” he said, through clenched teeth. “I wanted to like, punch that dude in the stupid smarmy face. And then he thought we were a couple? And I felt calmer. Like I still wanted to smack him because who the fuck thinks it’s okay to ask a third into the relationship? But you know… whatever…” 

Jake’s head was spinning. Half because he had only a little clue as to what the hell Lawson was talking about but more because Lawson Crouse just said he was _jealous_ of a guy who he thought he was flirting with. 

“Laws,” Jake started. “It’s been… a weird few days…” 

Lawson frowned. “Yeah, it has. It took you two years to tell me you were gay and we got mistaken for a couple. But like… that doesn’t change the fact that I was cool with being considered a couple. Does that freak you out?” 

“Does that freak ME out?” Yes, yes it did. “I’m GAY, Laws. You’re the one that’s supposed to be freaked out!” 

“Why would I be freaked out? I mean, other than the friendship thing, which would suck if we lost it. I mean, I’ve only _heard_ about Oliver and Mikkel, but that wouldn’t happen to us. We’re cool. We’re … different. We talk shit out and are **mostly** honest with each other.” 

Jake put a hand to his forehead and pushed his hair back in frustration. “YOU’RE STRAIGHT, LAWSON. Why am I the one to have to remind you of that?” 

“Bi, actually. What part of ‘You like boys _too_ ’ was confusing to you, fucker?” 

Lawson was still standing, with his hands now on his hips and Jake as pretty sure that he’d fallen asleep earlier and this was all some fucked up dream except, well. Really. Even his brain wouldn't’ go this far. Possibly he would get a good wet dream out of the idea of him Lawson. Maybe a sexy scene of him coming to his door and like… pushing him against the wall. 

Okay, he was getting hard. Focus. 

Either way, he would not have dreamt up the gay bar. Or the weird guy hitting on him. He certainly wouldn’t have gone for the speech and he probably would have avoided being so anxious for most of the night.

“Bi?” He swallowed. 

“Yes, as in both.” 

Jake’s face scrunched up. “Hey, you got pissed at me for not telling you about being gay.” 

“I would have told you I was bi, but there weren’t many guys I was into. Like, I was cool, so why rock the boat?” 

“And now, suddenly, you’re all okay with me and you being a thing? Like you weren’t interested and now you are? Cause what the fuck dude, I’m not just like… convenient?” Jake’s voice went higher on ‘convenient’ than he would have liked. 

Lawson's face went from open to anger in a split second. “Are you fucking kidding me, Chychrun? First of all, you’re actually _not_ convenient. You and I dating could be inconvenient. SECOND of all, you deserve to be freaking worshipped, dude. Not like … just fun. SO don’t fucking let someone make you feel just convenient. THIRDLY. Fuck you, I’m not that kind of guy… generally.” 

“Worshipped?” Jake said and a hysterical laugh bubbled out of his mouth. 

Lawson’s eyes softened a little but he knelt down in front of Jake and put a very light kiss on his lips, pulling back. “Worshipped, fucker.” 

“Fucker? THAT’S a term of endearment.” 

He winked and kissed him again. “Only for you.” 

Jake gnawed at the inside of his cheek. “Dude, we… should like. Not rush this shit. You get this is huge. Even if it is only once…” 

“Once …. _tonight_? Cause I’m not a one-night stand guy. Especially with dudes with your cheekbones and ass.” 

“Focus, Crouse,” Jake rolled his eyes. “I just think we should like. Not push this.” 

Lawson pursed his lips and then shrugged, nodding. “I’m cool with that. We can like. Watch TV and cuddle and shit. If that’s cool. I mean, we have morning skate so we should sleep soonish either way. I can woo you.” 

“Screw you, I can _woo_ you.” 

Lawson stood up. “Well, fucking woo me, dude.” 

“Baywatch?” 

“Endless romance,” Lawson rolled his eyes. But he was kicking off his shoes and rolling onto his side of the bed. 

Possibly the fact that he had a side of the bed should have tuned Jake into things earlier, but that was for another time and another day. He plugged his computer back in and put in the password, starting the movie over. They got maybe ten minutes in before Jake turned to Lawson, finding him half engaged in the movie but mostly side eyeing him that Jake realized what he was doing.

They’d been wooing each other, unknowingly, for the better part of two years. 

“Fuck it,” he said and, shutting his computer to move it off the bed, he attacked Lawson. 

They made it to morning skate on time, a little tired but surprisingly peppy.

**Author's Note:**

> Done because I love my friends from the bottom of my tippy toes to the moon and back. 
> 
> Title from "The Only Conclusion" by Jamie Lawson. <3


End file.
